On May 4, 2
010, four days after a Howard Drilling oil spill was reported in the Warren Times Observer, “Oil Spill In ANF Contained By Dike,” an Allegheny Defense Project team hiked several miles up gated Forest Service Road FR 261 to investigate the spill. Upon arriving at a Howard Drilling tank battery, ADP discovered a spill that had, in fact, breached the dike and flowed several hundred feet downhill toward Mud Lick Run (see photo on right, Mud lick run photo below).
At the site, the scent of oil permeated the air and some of the soil was still blackened with oily residue. The ADP team investigating the Howard Drilling spill saw evidence that workers had cleared soil from a large area within the dike, and from a wide path that ran over the dike and downhill toward Mud Lick 
Run. The affected area had been covered with straw, gravel, and seed. According to the April 30 Warren Times Observer article, the spill on FR 261 had been contained within the tank battery’s dike. According to the article, the spill was discovered by ANF officials and reported to the DEP, who in turn alerted Howard Drilling, who subsequently told the PA State Police that someone else was responsible for the spilled oil. The spill that the Allegheny Defense Project discovered on FR 261 on May 4, 2010, was very obviously not contained by a tank battery dike (see more photos below). See Also alleghenydefense.org.
Above: Apparent spill path (covered with straw) running downhill from tank battery
Above: Top of dike with evidence of spill on both the inside and outside dike wall
Above: Note path of cleared soil with straw on wall and top of dike
Above: Evidence of spill inside dike, soil cleared and covered with straw
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